India Tour will be tough for Steve Smith's men: Michael Clarke

Former skipper Michael Clarke on Friday admitted that Australia's upcoming limited-overs tour to India will be difficult for Steve Smith and Co. as the Men in Blue are in a great form at the moment

Michael Clarke

Former skipper Michael Clarke on Friday admitted that Australia's upcoming limited-overs tour to India will be difficult for Steve Smith and Co. as the Men in Blue are in a great form at the moment.

The two sides are scheduled to play five-match ODI series and three T20 matches from September 17 to October 11.

Clarke, who is in India for launch of Rocky and Mayur's new show 'Offbeat Australia', said that Virat Kohli's men have been doing pretty well, both at home turf and away and , therefore, he is sure fans will get to watch some exciting and competitive cricket.

"One-day cricket is all different to Test cricket. So, I have imagined the wickets will be very good. I think you'll see some entertaining one-day cricket. Hopefully, the Aussies will perform well and win, but it is going to be tough. India are once again always tough in their own backyard," Clarke said.

The former Australian skipper was referring to Kohli's peculiar Test streak. In 29 matches as skipper, Kohli has never played the same Playing XI in two consecutive Tests.

Kohli has led India to 19 Test victories, albeit most of them have come in familiar sub-continental (at home or in Sri Lanka) and tropical (West Indies) conditions.

"I haven't played for two years so I haven't played against this current team. They are obviously doing extremely well, winning at home, winning away as well. So, I think they are being led very well by Virat Kohli and they are playing some great cricket, so they are good enough to continue to keep winning, then they'll continue to be the number one team in the world," Clarke said.

As far as ODIs are concerned, India registered a 3-2 series win in the five-match Test series against New Zealand at home last October before clinching a three-match series triumph over England 2-0. The Kohli-led side also made it to the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy.